Openess

I was catching up with some of the blogs at Patheos this evening when I came across a series of articles by Noroniel Lokason entitled “Openness”, which is part of his ongoing series on Vanic Virtues. I’m not sure that I fully agree with everything he says in the first and second articles–though I definitely do agree with the idea of needing to be “open” to whatever life throws at you, and many of the suggestions that Nornoriel mentions in these posts are really solid. It was his third post, however, that really hit home.

As mentioned earlier in this series, openness is a natural outgrowth of serenity. When we can trust that the winds of change are propelling us to where we need to go, and learn to bend and not break with the wind, great things can come as a result. I’ve found from my own personal experience that the more I resist wyrd, the harder it will push. Going with the flow… there is grace.

Preach it, brother. Boy howdy, have I learned this lesson well, again and again. It’s to the point now where, when a friend vents at me yet again that their deities are manhandling them into all sorts of painful, unhappy situations, I tell them, Just take the yolk already. Honestly. I don’t think the deities are out to get us; but I do think they have strong opinions on what we should and shouldn’t be doing with our time and energy.

And you know what? That’s okay with me. They are deities. No matter how you decide to define “deity”, it’s always going to be of someone bigger than you–smarter, more aware of what’s going on in the world, more caring and compassionate, and someone who has a clearer viewpoint on how to get you to where you will be happiest (and therefore, imho, most useful to them). So, it may be in your favor to at least be open to taking that yolk, my fine modern feminist ox, and see where that gets you. It might not turn out to be as bad as you fear. As both my program, my goddess, my ancestors, and my fylgia promise me, everything I get when I do this will be “This, or something better”.

Think about it–we are being promised this, or something better. Fighting it, as Nornoriel says, just makes the path you walk that much harder. Why make your life hard unnecessarily? There is virtue in suffering pain and struggle, yes; but unnecessary suffering does not make you a better person (or make them happier Gods). As a well-known speaker in my program says, “Now that I have some serenity, I have a much lower tolerance for pain.” Pain is not necessarily a badge of honor. Be open to the possibility that maybe you don’t have to struggle so much, and that, perhaps, it’s okay to be happy. Take joy in the path you walk and in the service you do for the Gods and the people you love.

"To be a catalyst is the ambition most appropriate for those who see the world as being in constant change, and who, without thinking that they can control it, wish to influence its direction." -Theodore Zeldin